Laila Lalamireviews Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Desertion, a novel focused on colonialism and miscegenation in the African novelist’s native Zanzibar. Lalami acknowledges occasional “didactic lapses,” but says the book is “for the most part a lyrical, intensely felt work of the imagination.”

Under Macmillan’s New Writing program, authors agree to a publishing deal that promises “no advance, little publicity and rudimentary editing.” But Roger Morris, author of one “New Writing” title, says “he has had too much editing, rather than too little: someone at Macmillan has punctuated his artfully unpunctuated prose, he complains — ‘As if to say, Look, we may not be putting much money into this venture, but we’re throwing all the commas we’ve got at it.'” This complaint reportedly appeared on Morris’ (apparently now defunct) blog.